748 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Bill reddish-yellow, dusky above ; orbitar skin yellow-green ; 

 irides yellow ; legs blackish ; the feet and lower part of the tarsus 

 yellowish. Length 24 inches ; wing 10£ ; tail 3| ; bill at front 

 3^ ; tarsus nearly 4 ; middle toe and claw 2f . 



In the cold season entirely of a slaty colour, the throat alone 

 white. 



Young birds are pure white* throughout, or, according to 

 Layard, have some of the wing-coverts edged with grey. At 

 the first breeding season they assume the dark slaty colour, with 

 traces of white on the winglet, and lower surface in some ; spe- 

 cimens in a state of change are, of course, much varied with 

 white. 



This curious Egret appears to be very similar to Gould's H. 

 pannosa, from Australia. Blyth remarks that his figure (quoted 

 above) quite agrees with adult birds in breeding plumage, but 

 that the dorsal train of the Australian species is longer, fuller, 

 and slightly turned up, the feathers also somewhat more decom- 

 posed. 



It is chiefly a bird of the sea-coasts, but I have found it more 

 than 200 miles inland, on the banks of rivers in the Deccan, and 

 Sykes procured his specimens from nearly the same locality. It is 

 tolerably common at the mouths of rivers, on both coasts, and, 

 according to Layard, makes its nest on trees near water, laying 

 four to six eggs, of the usual pale greenish-blue colour. 



H. jugularis, Forster, figured Gould, Birds of Australia, VI. pi. 

 60., concolor, Blyth, gularis, Baffles, Greyi, Gray, (the white stage, 

 figured by Gould, VI. pi. 61), is a nearly allied species which has 

 been found in Arrakan, the Nicobars, the Andamans, and in 

 several of the Malayan islands, and may occur in the Sunderbuns. 

 It has the feet and legs shorter (as w r ell as the bill), and stouter 

 proportionally, and a much narrower white stripe on the chin 

 and throat, absent in some. 



Bonaparte separates from A. Greyi, jugularis, Forster, which he 

 says is the same as A. sacra, Gmelin, and is found in the islands of 

 the Pacific Ocean, but Gray unites them all (Cat.Birds of Pacific) ; 

 the former ornithologist gives A. novce Hollandice, Latham; A. 

 picata, Gould; A. nova Guinea, Gmelin; and A. atra, Ouvier, as 



